Dear Sean
Is there a rule about where you need to stand in your square during a serve? While you are in square 2 is it legal to be at the apex of squares 4,3, and 1? Is there anything saying you cannot? I know there is anti-poaching and interference rules, but is there anything saying the person occupying square 2 cannot crowd squares 4,3, and 1 and cause a misdirection of the serve once it is hit in the general direction? - "Bannerism", 7/21/2008

Thanks for the message, "Bannerism". You are actually asking two different questions, let me try to pull them apart.

The easy question you are asking is if can players can stand anywhere they want. The easy answer is yes, they can stand anywhere they want. There is no rule in our league about staying inside your square. If a player wants to crowd another square or run across the room, they take a big risk in being in poor position to defend their square.

You are also asking if players can interfere with a serve. The answer is no. The serves are meant to put the ball into play fairly. If other players were allowed to interfere with the serves then it creates too much opportunity for error and confusion about who should be out. Aside from the server calling special rules at the start of each round, it's actually the first receiver after the serve who starts the game. See how that works?

Squarefour is not the final word in four square since this game is really flexible and scalable - it can be adapted for any level of age or skill. Four square is a lot like poker, it's a widely known and accepted game but there are dozen or more ways to play it. I would leave it up to your local gang on how this is played in your neighborhood.

Hope this helps! Drop me a line if you have more questions or whatever.

Dear Sean,
During play, can a player occupying a specific square leave the square for any reason? I am under the impression that a player must always stay within their square. Please advise. Thanks - John, 6/1/2008

Hi John. I've answered this before but I'll give it another go.

The official ruling is that we let players run all over the court. But that doesn't mean this "ruling" is right for your players.

We're adults, we've signed releases, we play big, and that works for us. We enjoy the challenge of chasing the ball into the far corners of the gym or diving across the court in a last ditch effort to save yourself. The way we see it, its fine to leave your square but foolish to leave it empty and for the most part our athletes don't stray far.

But we have some other rules in place that make this possible.

The anti-poaching rule helps us keep clarify who is allowed to touch the ball and when. Basically this says if a ball touches a square then the only person who can hit it next is the owner of that square, anyone else touching it then would be out. This helps us make it clear when a player is in possession, not matter who might have crept into your square with you.

The interference variety of rules are designed to punish players who prevent a play from happening by getting in the way. This is one of the things stopping a player from flat out moving into another square and being in the way.

But on the flip side, there are advantages to keeping players in their squares.

There is less tendency for players to charge across the gym after a pop fly and accidentally crack some kids skulls together. It can keep the aggressive players in check.

So really, you can play any way you want, and four square is good in this way because you can adjust rules to suit the age and skill of the players. Let us know if this advice is helpful!

Dear Sean,
Hi my name is Brittany and I'm with the Round Rock, TX Convention and Visitors Bureau. We are interested in hosting and bringing tournaments and competitions to Round Rock. If you wouldn't mind, please provide us with more information about Squarefour.org such as 2009 tournaments and facility requirements. Thank you - Brittany Wilson, www.sportscapitaloftexas.com, 5/30/08

Hi Britt, thanks for the message. It would be real cool if you guys down in Texas took an interest in four square. We have one major event each year, the Four Square World Championships which take place in February. We've had about 100 people register each year and we're starting to outgrow our current arena. In fact, we're looking for a city that is willing to build us a new stadium so we can blow the lid off our registration caps. Round Rock, that city could be you.

Dear Sean,
I’m the teen director at the boys and girls club here at Cape Cod Mass where foursquare has recently become a club favorite game to play, and I’ve got a few questions for you. First off, how do you hand out trophies for a TEAM in a game with four people and the people are continuously changing? And secondly the staff here has become ADDICTED to the game, how do we get invites to the next “World Championship?” - Russ 5/9/08

Thanks for the note, Russ, glad to see you have such a strong scene. I have a few answers to your few questions.

First note that we track individual players scores through each game for the entire season and because of this we can pull out interesting numbers. When we do team scoring we track the performance of each player and then average them out by the number of players on the team. If there are four people on a team and two of them score a 10 (this is an example) and two of them score a zero then the team score is 5. We don't worry about a team taking over the court and working together because in four square there is only one person scoring points at any one time.

At the world champs, we give out a team trophy or faction trophy based on the scores of the people in the final round of the tournament. If the final round of the tourney is filled with 50% Boston kids and smaller percentages of other factions then its likely that Boston performed better as a group, if you know what I mean.

If you want to be at the world championships of four square, then you need only show up. They are held in Jan-Feb each year and are an open invitation to four square players all over the globe. The folks up in Maine are extremely friendly and gracious hosts and will go out of their way to make the event awesome - just ask the current Canadian men's world champ.

Dear Sean,
A shoeshine is when on the serve, the server hits the person in the shoe and they're automatically out. It can be used as a strategy. I can barely possibly hit it! -Will, 4/24/2008

Will, thanks for the note, and thanks for bringing this up. It's complicated and I see at least two ways of looking at it.

You could approach this as the receiver's fault, and this is how lots of officials might see it too. Our league rules say that you may only hit the ball with your hands and should the ball be hit with something other than you hands then you should be out. If the receiver on the serve can't get his or her feet out of the way then this rule says the receiver is out.

You could approach this as the server's fault. Our league rules say that the serve must be delivered to a specific square fairly. Some people might call this "no blood on serves" but the principle is points should be earned on good plays and not aggressive serves. Actually, the common misunderstanding about serves is people think the server is in charge of the round, but instead the receiver is the one who determines the first clever play. The server's job is to just start the game. This whole approach would mean that the server served the ball poorly and should be penalized.

We usually go with the second approach, but its a soft target. One frustrating part for kids (and teachers who supervise them) are the softness of the rules and how many kids can just argue better about the rules rather than be a good player. So the trick to running good games is to have firm rules that can't be interpreted. And you need rules that work together as a system to be make decisions like this clear.

My final thoughts are these. Hitting the ball at another players' feet is totally okay and should be used as a strategy for getting players out. If they can't move out of the way or reposition themselves in the square then certainly they aren't playing hard enough. But strategies should not be allowed on serves and creating firm rules on the right way to serve will prevent this from happening.

Thanks again for the note, Will. Hope this helps you sort it out, and come back to us if you decide on a set of rules that work for you.